1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to computerized methods and systems for facilitating face-to-face social meetings, and, in particular, to such methods and systems operating over public data networks.
2. Description of Related Art
An outing blends an urge to visit an attraction with a social motive: either one wishes to go to a café, movie, or show and seeks a companion, or one wants to meet a friend and selects a café, movie, or show to go to. Some want to go out with existing friends, while others go out to make new friends or meet and get to know a soul mate.
The social motive is often the engine that drives outings—or the obstacle that inhibits them. Nurturing the social motive, however, is nontrivial. Seeking a soul mate or making new friends requires identifying eligible prospects and approaching strangers, which is challenging for many. Developing affection or friendship following a first meeting is also nontrivial. But even within established and solid friendships among individuals, couples, or families, arranging social meetings is a demanding task, requiring initiative, exchange of information, balancing preferences and priorities, negotiating the particulars, and coordinating the execution. While some people are proactive and successful in driving and arranging social meetings, many others have difficulties initiating outings and meetings, even though they still have a strong need for such activities.
Social meetings can take place at commercial attractions such as dining and drinking places, clubs, movie and show theatres, concert halls, museums, lectures, sports arenas, shopping malls, amusement parks, zoos, resorts, domestic and overseas tours, etc. Social meetings can also take place in noncommercial settings such as a private party, during a walk in a park, or when participating in a public lecture, demonstration, or political gathering.
Although the Internet and the media provide ample information with respect to where one can go and what one can do, the motivated individual, couple or family still has the burden of arranging with whom to meet, for what event, and when. While the convenience aspect of “when” can benefit from some recent innovations in calendar-coordination (see, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,085,166 and 6,505,167B1; and US patent application publication 2005/0038690A1), the socially-critical aspects of with whom to go out and for what event, have so far been overlooked, except for the related parent U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/841,268. There is thus an unfulfilled need for methods and systems to assist socially-motivated persons in initiating and coordinating their social meetings.